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ACGC senior provides communication link with board

ACGC senior Marie Stetler is pictured Monday in the high school halls. For the past year, Stetler has been the student representative to the ACGC School Board. She said she's enjoyed representing the study body. Tribune photo by Carolyn Lange

GROVE CITY -- As ACGC school board members discussed and debated sticky topics like finances, policy issues and implementing a four-day school week during the past year, senior Marie Stetler has been at the table listening.

When her turn on the agenda came up she would update the board on student activities and occasionally told the school board what students thought about things, like a four-day school week.

Monday was Stetler's last meeting as the student representative on the ACGC school board.

"Marie was our b-o-r-e-d student for the year," said Superintendent Sherri Broderius, making an obvious pun. On the contrary, Stetler said.

"Thank you for letting me watch you guys. Really, I wasn't bored," she said.

ACGC has incorporated a student representative on its school board for years, according to Dan Tait, a former school board member and the district's current business manager. "It's a good experience for the students to see how government happens," he said.

Having a student at each meeting also reminds school staff and board members "why we're there," Tait said. "It makes it real."

The school superintendent taps "top-notch students" for the volunteer stint who are either involved with the honor society or student council, said Tait. They're usually seniors.

Stetler, a member of the student council, is planning to study fashion and marketing at Art Institutes International in Minneapolis.

She said she's enjoyed representing the study body.

She also enjoyed seeing the formal structure and end results of the meetings. "They're respectful and businesslike the whole time," she said of the school board members.

She confessed to the board that she was sometimes confused during the discussions but that she "learned something" by attending the meetings.

As a student she "never thought about how they made the decisions" until she saw the process in action. "I really enjoyed it," she said.